Lobster and Shrimp Coquille

Merry Christmas everyone! Here's wishing you a day filled with love and laughter.

It's the crack of dawn on Christmas morning and we've been up for hours and hours. Georgie the cat (the feral wannabe) announced Santa's arrival at 3:30 outside the patio door and Max wanted to check out the happenings at 4:30. There was no talking either one of them out of it. Kids will be kids, whether the 2 legged or 4 legged variety.

While it wasn't exactly peaceful this morning, it was quite the different story with last night's dinner because it was so tasty, there were more groans of delight than there was conversation. Inspired by a traditional Coquille St. Jacques, I lightly sauteed pieces of lobster tail and some gorgeous shrimp in butter then transferred the just barely cooked pieces to a couple of shell shaped gratin dishes called a coquilles. Hey, we can thank the French for the name!

Joined by sauteed onions and quartered mushrooms, each little shell shaped casserole was lapped with a rich sauce - heavy on the butter, cream and more importantly medium dry Amantillado sherry from Spain via Trader Joe's. Hey my friend Lea mentioned Amantillado a while ago and I just had to go get me some. It's absolutely superb and proved there's a lot more to sherry than just old Bristol cream... but I digress.

Topped with some buttered cracker crumbs and a touch of fresh tarragon, the coquilles hit the oven for a grand total of 15 minutes and voila' ... an elegant and delicious dinner more than suitable for a very special Christmas Eve.

Lobster and Shrimp Coquille (a JBug’s Kitchen Antics original)

1/3 cup sweet onion, finely chopped

4 medium sized mushrooms, quartered

3 tablespoons butter, divided

2 – 5 ounce lobster tails

8 ounces large shrimp, peeled and deveined

Spray 2 shell shaped casseroles (coquilles) or a gratin dish with cooking spray and set aside.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add onions and mushrooms to pan and sauté until onions are transparent and mushrooms are slightly golden in color. Remove to prepared casseroles. Return sauté pan to heat and melt remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Using kitchen shears, but down the underside of the lobster tails and remove the meat from the shells. Slice into half inch coins and add to sauté pan. Cook until lobster is just firm to the touch and opaque. Remove to casseroles, splitting evenly between the two. Add shrimp to sauté pan and cook until pink and firm to the touch – approximately 2 minutes. Transfer to casseroles.

Sauce:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup whipping cream

1/2 cup half and half

1/3 cup medium dry sherry

Salt and pepper

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour and whisk together, cooking for about 2 minutes until mixture is bubbly and slightly golden in color. Whisk in cream and half and half and cook until mixture is thick. Remove from heat and stir in sherry. Taste for seasoning, adding salt and pepper as necessary. Pour sauce over seafood in casseroles, splitting evenly between the 2 dishes. (May be prepared up to this point, covered and refrigerated).

Topping:

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh tarragon (optional)

1/2 a sleeve of Ritz crackers

1-1/2 tablespoons butter, melted

Transfer crackers to a small zip bag and crush to fine crumbs. Add butter and mix till well combined. Preheat oven to 425. Cutting a corner from the zip bag, sprinkle crumbs around edges of casserole dishes. Top with fresh tarragon. Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until crumbs are browned and casseroles are bubbling. (Do not over cook) Serves 2.

 

Comments

[Lea]

Yummy and a Merry Christmas to you, my friend!

[June]

Thank you my darling friend, and Happy Ho Ho to you too!